Pentagon asks for massive $718B for budget

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Pentagon is asking for $718 billion dollars in its budget for the fiscal year 2020, a five percent increase over the approved budget for 2019.

While the White House released the general points of the defense budget on Monday, the Pentagon released the full budget on Tuesday.

The $718 billion budget is comprised of a base budget of $544 billion, with an additional $164 billion dedicated to overseas contingency operations.

The Department of Defense also requested $14 billion dollars for a space force, of which $72 million will be used toward the building of a headquarters for the new military branch.

U.S. President Donald Trump first announced plans last year to create a space force, which would become the sixth branch of the armed forces.

It would be the first new military branch in 72 years.

The Pentagon also asked for $13.6 billion toward the development of missile defense capabilities as China and Russia race to create new hypersonic weapons.

Within the budget request also lies $9 billion for emergency funds, which include hurricane relief efforts, as well as $3.6 billion directed toward potentially building parts of Trump’s border wall.

“We have new money for the border in our budget to support the presidents priority,” Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Elaine McCusker said in a news briefing.

Last month, Trump declared a national emergency on border security, attempting to circumvent Congress for funds after lawmakers gave him only a small fraction of the $5.7 billion he had been seeking to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The Trump administration's budget is merely a request to Congress, which has the authority to craft and approve federal budgets. The budget proposal is unlikely to be mirrored by the federal legislature.